The R2 Standard is the leading certification for electronics repair and reuse. As the housing body for R2, SERI maintains the R2 Standard, related documentation, guidance, and facilitates its ongoing development.

SERI works with partners throughout the lifecycle of electronic products to ensure that they are managed responsibly. SERI's programs focus on education, outreach, safety, and international development.

SERI offers a variety of educational and training opportunities for recyclers, as well as opportunities for auditors and consultants. These trainings focus on implementing the R2 Standard, realizing a return on the investment in certification, discussing relevant issues or challenges related to recycling practices, and other topics.

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Batteries pose a particular challenge in the reuse and recycling of electronics. They can be difficult to recover and are often undetected in some electronic equipment. This problem is compounded by the increased use of batteries in an ever-growing list of products and devices. Additionally, different battery and chemistry types require different and specialized processes, further complicating the recycling process.

The R2 Certification Program continues to grow, with approximately 730 facilities in 30 countries certified to R2:2013 at the end of 2017. By region, Asia has seen the fastest rate of growth with a 34.8% increase in the number of certified facilities, followed by Latin America (22.7%), Austrailia/New Zealand (11.7%), North America (9.4%) and Europe (7%).

A major OEM recently stated that it had slowed the processing speed of some of its older phones as part of a systems update in order to mitigate problems with aging batteries causing system crashes during peak power usage. Simply replacing the aging battery would seem like a sensible alternative to this approach but the phones are not designed for the batteries to be removed or replaced by users.

It has been SERI’s practice to issue a “Memo” when a change or addendum to the R2 Code of Practices (COP) has been needed. In order to ensure consistency in the language used across the management systems world, SERI has decided to use the term “Advisory” instead of memo. The definition of a COP Advisory:

In January 2018, HP announced a worldwide voluntary safety recall and replacement program for certain notebook computer and mobile workstation batteries. These batteries have the potential to overheat, posing a fire and burn hazard to customers. At the time of recall, HP had received eight reports of battery packs overheating, melting, or charring. The recall affects about 50,000 batteries.

Tracking the flow of equipment, components, and materials that pass through an R2 Recycler’s facility is one of the fundamental pillars of the R2 Standard. Auditors will be looking for an effective sampling of records, such as Bills of Lading (BOLs) or other equivalent, commercially accepted documentation that demonstrates conformance to the R2 Standard. Among the records used to corroborate your documented flow of Focus Materials (FMs) down the recycling chain could be BOL’s signed by the receiving facility, settlement reports, invoices, and receipts of payment.

Many R2 certified companies – and their customers – do not fully understand the significance of the scope statement on an R2 certificate. It is the scope statement that tells customers exactly what services and activities taking place at a facility have been fully audited and conform to R2 requirements.

SERI is proud of the many R2 certified companies who are making a difference through safe and sustainable management of used electronics, and through their work to improve the lives of people in their communities and around the world. In the spotlight this month:

SERI was recently informed that a policy change is occurring in the Netherlands that affects the legality to import CRT glass sent for recycling. The competent authority for the Netherlands recently informed EPA that use of processed CRT glass for the production of concrete is no longer allowed under their new waste policy plan (LAP3), which takes effect December 28, 2017. As a result, the Netherlands will no longer allow imports of processed CRT glass used for this purpose and are withdrawing all consents to notifications to export CRT glass to A. Jansen B.V.

The R2 Standard is the leading certification for electronics repair and reuse. As the housing body for R2, SERI maintains the R2 Standard, related documentation, guidance, and facilitates its ongoing development.

SERI works with partners throughout the lifecycle of electronic products to ensure that they are managed responsibly. SERI's programs focus on education, outreach, safety, and international development.

SERI offers a variety of educational and training opportunities for recyclers, as well as opportunities for auditors and consultants. These trainings focus on implementing the R2 Standard, realizing a return on the investment in certification, discussing relevant issues or challenges related to recycling practices, and other topics.